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Does running wear out the bodies of professionals and amateurs alike?

A high-level athlete doesn’t need to see a sports doctor. Why is that?

If one wishes to observe “begging the question” in the true definition of the phrase, there ya go. Many high-level runners struggle with constant injury. And those are the ones you’ve heard of. The ones you haven’t heard of? They couldn’t stay healthy at the level of training required. At high levels, athletes are pushing themselves right up to the brink of injury, and hopefully not past that point. It’s an otherwise okay article, but that sentence is a swing and a miss.

8 days agoby mikestew

FTA:

“A high-level athlete doesn’t need to see a sports doctor.

[…]

Professional athletes benefit from much better […] medical support than novice or amateur runners”

So, which is it? You might say their “specific programme that includes dietary measures, recovery phases and processes” is medical support but doesn’t involve doctors, but if you do, I think that’s playing with words.

8 days agoby Someone

I think that supercompensation is not as strong an effect in amateurs and that this is the #1 driver of injury.

I've long suspected there is a range of exertion that is net negative with regard to injury risk. No exercise at all means no exercise related risk. However, I strongly disagree that an extreme amount of exercise is the riskiest. I think the most dangerous level of exertion sits right in the middle somewhere. That special zone where you are grinding down your bones a bit but your hormones and other compensation mechanisms don't react accordingly because you aren't going quite hard enough.

8 days agoby bob1029

> Note the paradox here: one of the principles of training is to stimulate the body, to “wear it out” at a given moment in time in order to trigger the physiological processes that will lead to improved capabilities, the fight against fatigue… and, ultimately, increased resistance to physical stress.

A somewhat recent paper:

Systematic review and meta-analysis of antioxidants with or without exercise training improving muscle condition in older adults

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12491480/

Seems to imply that as we get older, antioxidants might help the body recover from exercise. More specifically, antioxidants may help resolve exercise induced inflammation in adults aged over 55 years.

So it seems that, yes, as you get older, its easier for the body to wear down, but this can be mitigated somewhat.

8 days agoby clumsysmurf

I've been lucky to run fourteen years so far without any injuries at all, starting when I was twenty-seven. I don't train "for" anything, though, other than maintaining my own fitness. I just do my 10K three times a week and that's good enough for me.

8 days agoby FeteCommuniste

Professional runners will do high impact lifting and daily stretching. Amateurs will do whatever they feel like doing for prep work, including nothing at all. It's disturbing that they leave this critical detail out.

8 days agoby 1970-01-01

Running is generally a bad exercise in terms of the injury/body-wear to benefit ratio, especially if you're body isn't light and young. Better to combine walking/hiking with resistance exercises.

8 days agoby xnx

The key is simply to keep moving.

Staying safer and getting the benefits comes down to progressive training (carefully managing volume and intensity), adapting lifestyle/recovery, and getting guidance/support (coaches, clubs, medical help) rather than assuming pros are built differently and amateurs are safe.

8 days agoby mycall

Ignoring the "A high-level athlete doesn’t need to see a sports doctor" faux-pas, the article's biggest sin is equating "running" with long distance (marathon or ultra).

To recreational runners, the more interesting question is for light jogs 5K-10K, where the goal is to maintain or slowly improve your cardio fitness, not push everything to the max.

The article doesn't address that even in passing.

7 days agoby senko

It depends on the intensity level. In the pandemic of 2020, I ran 26.2 mile runs at an easy effort for 5 weekends in row in the spring and 6 in the fall, generally with my easy effort getting faster as I went. Rather than the sequence of big runs wearing my out, I was getting stronger.

Now, if I had tried to run every one at "race pace", I would likely be trashed or injured by the end from insufficient recovery.

8 days agoby markstos

There is an interesting study in older adults who were former elite athletes. Knee osteoarthritis (knee joint wear-and-tear) was best predicted by high body mass and knee injuries as young adults.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7718008/

8 days agoby rzmmm

Funny two weekends ago I watched a woman set a world record for the mile for women 80-85.

8 days agoby PaulHoule

8 days agoby mistrial9

I've reached the age where my body starts complaining if I don't exercise somehow on a frequent basis.

8 days agoby TYPE_FASTER

Quntity of exercise cannot build quality. Its self-selecting the people who can handle running and injuries better so they adapt. The rest get injured enough to stop. II don't think trying to "push it to using 100% of potential" is worth any long-term health risk, especially with no long-term reward: so you win X race/competition once and then what?

8 days agoby countWSS

I’d always hated running. I’ve done C25K a few times with no problem, but once I reached that goal I felt I couldn’t make much additional progress. But the need to move and running’s simplicity and minimal requirements meant I kept trying every couple of years. I read/watched a little and got some tips from ultra runners and actually started to make progress. I was actually enjoying it and looking forward to running. Then I got the worst fucking shin splints imaginable where I had to nearly crawl halfway back home. Stopped running to heal, which took a very long time. I’ve tested a few runs but there’s still pain and I just don’t want to go through that again.

So now I row every day. I get a much better exercise high from rowing, progress is much more noticeable, it’s improved vitals more than running has, there’s no pain, and I don’t have to worry about weather. I occasionally miss the change of scenery or things like running on a cold snowy day but I can just go rent some cross country skis when I get that itch.

8 days agoby moribvndvs

Nursing a sore right Achilles as I read this...

8 days agoby asplake

I mean the consensus is that to improve you kinda have to put a certain level of unusually high stress on your body. While amateurs do it at a lower level, amateurs likely like the genetics that makes increases resistance to slows down the wearing process and also lack regular constant monitoring of exercise intensity, frequency, rests, diet etc.

8 days agoby bossyTeacher

Yes

8 days agoby roschdal

wow this article sure reads like AI slop

8 days agoby superchris

TLDR: no, they do not wear out the body in the same way

8 days agoby _aleph2c_